


The Bookstore down the Lane

by alexcat



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Prompt 142, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 15:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22498600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Freddie has two mysterious customers in the store.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5
Collections: Of Elves and Men, Picture_Prompt_Fun





	The Bookstore down the Lane

**Author's Note:**

> For this picture:
> 
> [](https://imgur.com/hbya88Z)  
> 

Freddie looked out the window. 

There were two tall young men, appearing to look alike, looking in his window. Something about them seemed almost familiar but he was sure he didn’t know them. He would love to be as tall as they were! Alas he was only a little over five feet. 

The bell jingled as they came into the store. 

Both men had blue eyes and were both dressed in jeans and t-shirts. One wore a blue Captain America shirt, the other a black Batman one. One of them was just a tiny bit taller than the other and he wore his long, dark brown locks hanging freely. The other man had a neat pony tail that was tied off in a blue ribbon. 

“Hello. Can I help you?”

“Do you have any books by someone named Tolkien?” 

It was a question he often got since the name of the store was Baggins Book Bazaar. They did have a lot of Tolkien, a small room toward the back of the store held books, maps, records, DVDs and even some toy figures from the movies. 

“I do. We have a whole room devoted to Tolkien.” He led them to the room and turned the overhead light on. “Would you like some tea?” he asked. He wasn’t sure why, but it seemed like the right thing to do. 

Both of them nodded at the same time. 

Freddie left them to the books and went to make a cup of tea for each of them, and maybe one for himself as well. 

He heard them talking to one another from his vantage point in the front of the store. He plugged in the electric kettle and put some tea in the teaball and waited for the water to heat. 

He realized as he listened to his only customers, that they were speaking in a language that he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard before. Maybe it was Norwegian or something. 

He poured the water, set the pot on his tray along with cups, sugar, lemon and milk as well as a few teaspoons and headed for the Tolkien room. He set the tray on the low table in front of the small loveseat against the outside wall, under the only window in the back of the shop. 

“Shall I pour?” he asked. 

The one with the ponytail nodded. 

“Sugar? Cream? Lemon?”

“Yes, please,” the other one said in a beautiful but unaccented voice. 

Freddie poured the tea and prepared it for his handsome customers. “Is there something I can help you find?” 

“We were wondering if you have any map books?”

“I do. There is a published edition of all of Professor Tolkien’s maps. Let me find it for you.” 

He climbed up on the small library style ladder and fetched the book. Though it was new, the maps were made to look old, as if hand drawn by the denizens of Middle Earth themselves. He handed it to them.

“Is there anything else I can find for you?” 

They both shook their heads as they began to look inside the maps book, taking out the maps and spreading them on the table. 

“I’ll go back up front then. I need to keep an eye on the front door.” Freddie nodded to them and returned to the front, but he lingered as near to the door as he could, listening as the two men conversed again in that language that was both strange and somehow familiar to him. 

They talked and looked at the maps for nearly half an hour before coming out with the map book in hand. One of them carried the tray with the empty teapot and cups and thanked him for the hospitality. 

“It reminds us of home,” one of them said as they handed him the map book to ring up. 

“Where is home?” Freddie asked. 

“Our country is long gone,” the other man said. 

“You miss it,” Freddie said, seeing a longing in their faces. 

They both nodded. “We do.” 

He wrapped the map in paper and tied it up with string, then made change for the bills they handed him. 

“Thank you, Mr. Baggins,” they said together as they left. 

*

Freddie thought of them again the next day when he went into the Tolkien room to tidy up. He needn’t have bothered. The room was perfect, everything returned to its place. Unbidden, he remembered their conversation in that language that hadn’t thought he knew. 

He began to search on his laptop. 

He was right in his hunch. They _had_ been speaking an elvish language, one of the ones Tolkien invented. If they were elves, then maybe he was – 

Nah! They were just fans, cosplayers, the ones who dressed in costumes were called. That was all. There was no need for him to get carried away, was there? It was time for afternoon tea and he had some nice little cakes to go with his tea today. Maybe if the store wasn’t busy, he’d sit outside and smoke his pipe for a bit. 

He hadn’t even noticed that the tips of their ears were pointed.

**Author's Note:**

> My [**Tumblr**](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/alexcat45).


End file.
